


There's A Reason For The Colors

by IndigoMay



Category: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Power Rangers, Power Rangers Samurai
Genre: M/M, Yep that was me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-06
Updated: 2013-01-06
Packaged: 2017-11-23 21:42:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/626825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IndigoMay/pseuds/IndigoMay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Billy ran away years ago because of a secret he and Antonio Garcia share. The Rangers decide that they want to meet this new Samurai team on a day where Billy and Antonio are set to meet up. It gets interesting.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The Rangers being heteronormative has never made sense in my mind. Billy and others assume that the Rangers are heteronormative. I enjoy the contrast and decided to use it for plot. Also, I enjoy adding bits of continuity for the lolz. As such, this got a bit out of hand…enjoy?
> 
> Prompt from Queer Fest: Billy isn’t really leaving Earth to live with a fish alien on Aquitar. He’s just gay and afraid to come out to his friends.
> 
> Prince Dex is canon in Power Rangers- see Mighty Morphin Season 3. Also, some ideas are influenced from other fanfics- Ko-lin and Vanessa Tate (who, it should be noted, I adore; the only reason for any negativity is the POV character thinking about her and his issues) are from Tsukino Akume’s “Bright Skies” ‘verse; Trent’s kissing skill and the way the DT team started is from Dingo’s “Blame”; the Time Force…thing is from Rivulet027’s “Teammate Love”; weaker SPD morphers are from Guardian of Hope’s “Rainbow Brotherhood” ‘verse; the Forever Red incident and Tommy being orange jokes are from the famous and excellent “Of Love and Bunnies.” The poetry idea is owed to swing-set-in-december and her “Fool for Love” Teen Wolf Rom Com AU.

The alarm clock buzzed and Billy awoke, startled as he was every morning. He rose and went into the bathroom to bathe.

A glance at the calendar made him freeze. It had been sixteen years today since Billy had seen anyone he was acquainted with from Angel Grove.

Almost dying on Aquitar had finally forced him come to terms with his homosexuality. It caused an incident that was humorous in hindsight but extremely mortifying at the time, since Cestro did not understand the term “gay,” nor why it was so significant that Billy had suddenly said that he was. Even after he cleared up what he meant and was casually accepted by the Aquitan Rangers, he knew that he could never tell the Earthian Rangers. The pervasive discrimination against those of other sexual orientations wasn’t as strong in Angel Grove as in other cities- when you had enormous monsters rampaging in the city, your priorities tended to change- but there was still a strong element of it alive and well.

He was no longer a Ranger, but he still felt close to all of his friends and the possibility of them choosing to reject him because they could not tolerate homosexuality was extremely painful.

So Billy lied and made up an alien woman he fell in love with (who handily had a similar name to Cestro), quietly teleporting back to Earth with the help of Prince Dex of Edenoi, who agreed to keep silent when informed of the issue (the fact that Prince Dex had also experienced a great deal of discrimination due to his multiracial host family was most likely the true reason he kept silent). After making up a lie for his father, he left Angel Grove and his past behind, making a new identity- William Telar, resident of Stone Canyon who was moving to Nevada for job opportunities.

But William Telar had never been a Power Ranger, and Billy found himself missing it all desperately, though not desperately enough to face rejection or live a lie. He went into governmental work to make himself believe that he was doing something important and lasting that could help people.

Astronema’s invasion was the high point of William Telar’s life, letting him genuinely _fight_ for the first time in years. Then Billy heard of Zordon’s death in the news.

It was the point of highest temptation to go back to the Rangers, to comfort them all and receive comfort in return, but he didn’t. Instead, William Telar put his community back together, pitching in until he could no longer stand.

He still wished that he had truly said goodbye to Zordon.

* * *

"Tommy, wake up, we’re going to be late for the Ranger reunion!”

Tommy blinked awake, feeling his wife shaking him. “Easy, Beautiful, I’m up.”

“Finally!” Kimberly laughed, leaning into him. “Come on, we’re going to Panorama City to find the new Rangers, remember?”

“I know, I know!” he said, laughing and leaning up to steal a kiss from his wife. “I’m up!”

“Good job, Handsome.” Kimberly winked and kissed his cheek. “I’m taking a shower.”

Tommy watched his wife leave as he finally got out of bed. His grin fell when he saw the calendar.

Tommy still cursed himself for not trying harder to contact Billy on Aquitar. They hadn’t even known that Cestria never existed until Zordon’s death, when Trini refused to stop calling Aquitar until she talked to him.

They’d searched the whole galaxy through for fourteen years, only getting a lead after Max saw Billy’s missing person poster and said that he’d seen a guy like that working for some post-Ranger cleanup company in Turtle Cove. The Silver Guardians, as a favor from Wes and Eric to the original Rangers, investigated and found out that the man in question quit the same day as the moon mission and no one had seen him since.

How the hell did someone vanish that easily, particularly from people who could and did look all over the galaxy for him? Even if he died, they should have been able to find a record, a body, _something_.

But he had to focus. He’d be seeing the other Rangers today. And hey, if luck worked in their favor, maybe they’d stumble upon Billy.

* * *

Billy finished putting on his attire and went downstairs to break his fast, still lost in thought of things that happened years ago.

William Telar had been forced to vanish two years later when Lightspeed Rescue sent a message to the base that made his blood run cold.

_A man named William Cranston has been reported missing for two years due to Ranger-related activities. His description and a picture follow. If you see or know him, please report to the number below_.

He immediately placed the page in the shredder and left the next day.

His new identity was William Cristae, a resident of Turtle Cove. The arrival of the Wild Force Rangers nearly made him flee again, but observation led him to believe that they were unconnected to the other Ranger teams.

He kept out of sight, forcing himself not to fight unless absolutely sure no Rangers were around. He decided to work as a technical expert, helping Turtle Cove patch themselves back together after a monster attack. Then Carter Grayson, Lightspeed Red, came into town. Then he fled again, unwilling to take the risk that his town Rangers would recognize the poster of the lost William Cranston.

William Engal moved to Blue Bay Harbor, working tech support for a phone company. Two more years passed contently enough.

Then another group of Power Rangers rose and Billy began wondering if he was just a Power magnet. He stuck to the strategy he used in Turtle Cove.

The cover worked for a year, the team rising and falling without Billy’s cover being put at risk. Then Tommy Oliver came in with his brand-new dinosaur-themed team and Billy _ran_.

This time he settled into Ocean Bluff as William Graner. He believed that he’d finally avoided the Rangers, the Power _finally_ left him alone…then the Jungle Fury Rangers rose, four years later.

He nearly screamed in horror. Thankfully, this time he finally avoided the team _and_ any past Rangers, being able to keep the job he had.

Then, two years later, Antonio Garcia came into his life.

* * *

“No, _querida_ , I’ve got this,” Antonio said, trying to keep Mia away from the pot without being obvious about it. “You like my smoked salmon frittata, don’t you?”

“I can _help_ ,” she insisted.

“Mia, where are you? I found-” Mike cut himself off when he entered the kitchen. “Is that your breakfast salmon thing?”

“ _Si_ ,” Antonio said, grinning. “What’d you find?”  
“Nothing!” Mike said quickly, overlapping with Mia’s quick,

“The recipe book I was looking for. Thanks, Mike!”

Antonio raised an eyebrow at Mike. “Where is it?”

“Kevin has it,” he said, looking remarkably relieved for someone who’d just been caught helping Mia cook. This bore investigation. Antonio looked back to his frittata and waited for them to leave, counted to five, and looked outside.

Kevin was looking, horrified, at a pile of unbound paper. Mia, next to him, was doubled over with silent laughter. Mike suddenly appeared and started waving at them, and Emily grabbed the papers and shoved them into her bag.

_Curioso_.

“Antonio?”

Antonio whirled and walked over to the other door to meet Jayden. The sight of him hadn’t stopped taking his breath away.

“Hey,” his leader said, smiling. “You’re making the frittata. Another meeting with your other teacher?”

Antonio grinned at him, turning back to his food. “Yep. I’ll be back at three.”

“Good to know.” Jayden came up close. “Need any help?”

Antonio shook his head ruefully. “I won’t be able to discourage Mia if I accept.” He regretted that- cooking with Jayden would have been fun.

“Pity.” Jayden looked over at him with another grin. “I’ll wait outside, then.”

Antonio nodded, unable to speak, and watched him leave.

Some days he could barely stand not telling him.

* * *

Billy opened his garage and got to work on the Bartons’ faulty laptop, still reflecting on his student.

Antonio, at first only the boy with a Zord but no other idea about what he was doing, but the Latino boy soon became his student. He figured out that Billy was a Ranger ( _how_ had a runaway teenage fisherman found a Lightspeed poster looking for him?), then he hunted Billy down and asked Billy to help him become a Ranger, hoping that the fact that he was a runaway would make the senior Ranger sympathize. What else could Billy do but agree?

Billy worked on making him a morpher and started teaching him the intricacies of Ranger tech. Seeing as he hadn’t fought seriously in many years, he couldn’t teach Antonio combat, but it turned out that Antonio had found ways to train himself. No, all he wanted was to be a certified Ranger.

He became almost an apprentice, the irony of Billy teaching a boy to use the color that he could not become making him laugh a bit at first. Then he finally asked about _why_ he was so determined to become a Ranger.

The way he _blushed_ told Billy everything, even before the boy began shyly talking about his old friend Jayden and how he gave him his Zord and he promised to come back.

Then they had a discussion about their sexualities, and Billy finally told Antonio why he had no contact with the other Rangers. The revelation that even superheroes could be potentially homophobic shocked the cheerful Latino, and he buried himself in work and fishing for the next few days. Billy had to sell the fish in order to get the stench even slightly out of his house.

But when word of the Samurai Rangers reached Ocean Bluff, Antonio was off to Panorama City as he’d planned, visiting once a month to tell Billy all the Ranger news. Billy had to tell him that the Samurai Blue disapproving of him had no impact on Billy’s opinion of him during his first call back, and that incident with being turned into a fish and almost eaten went very poorly, but ultimately Antonio was content with the Rangers, even if he had to wax lyrical about Jayden to Billy to keep from accidentally outing himself.

Suddenly, the teleporter whirred to life. Billy grinned and turned to see his student appear.

“ _Buenos días_ , Sensei!” Antonio said cheerfully. “What are we working on today?”

* * *

Emily stood victorious over Mike, sparring stick in hand. He laughed as she extended a hand and pulled him up.

“Well done, Emily,” Ji said, nodding to her. Emily beamed, letting the praise sink in.

Before she could start her next match with Mia, someone rapped on the courtyard wall. Emily whirled to see a brown-haired, stocky man grinning at them.

“You’re the Samurai Rangers, right?” he said. “Jason Lee Scott, senior Mighty Morphin Red Ranger and Zeo Gold.”

Holy _crap_.

Emily’s jaw dropped, and she heard multiple weapons crash.

“…That happens a lot. Shall I get through the introductions, then?” He didn’t wait for a response before pulling an Asian woman forward and wrapping an arm around her. “This is my wife, Trini Kwan-Scott, senior Mighty Morphin Yellow Ranger.”

“Hello!” she said, cheerfully.

“Next to her is Dr. Tommy Oliver, multicolored wonder. He’s been Mighty Morphin Green, Mighty Morphin White, White Ninja, Zeo Red, senior Turbo Red, and most recently Dino Thunder Black. One day he _will_ be Orange.”

“Oh, _shut up_ , Jason,” the spiky-haired man said, rolling his eyes.

“The orange is _caaaalling_ , Tommy!” Mr. Scott teased, earning an elbow to the chest.

“ _Boys_ ,” a petite brunette in pink said, rolling her eyes. “I’m Kimberly Oliver, senior Mighty Morphin Pink and Tommy’s wife.”

“I am grateful every day for that,” Dr. Oliver said, smiling sweetly at her. Mrs. Oliver laughed and kissed him.

“Moving on to other introductions!” Mrs. Kwan-Scott said, clapping and turning to a group of people watching a dark-skinned man dance. “The guy breakdancing is Zack Taylor, senior Mighty Morphin Black. The crowd around him includes Zhane, Space Silver; Andros, Space Red; Karone, second Lost Galaxy Pink; Cassie Chan, second Turbo Pink and Space Pink; Aisha Campbell, second Mighty Morphin Yellow and senior Ninja Yellow; Rocky DeSantos, second Mighty Morphin Red, senior Ninja Red, and Zeo Blue; Adam Park, second Mighty Morphin Black, Ninja Black, Zeo Green, and senior Turbo Green; Tanya Sloan, Zeo Yellow and senior Turbo Yellow; Ashley Hammond, second Turbo Yellow and Space Yellow; Leo Corbett, Lost Galaxy Yellow; Carlos Vallerte, second Turbo Green and Space Black; T.J. Johnson, second Turbo Red and Space Blue; Kat Hillard, second Mighty Morphin Pink, Ninja Pink, Zeo Pink, and senior Turbo Pink; and Justin Stewart, Turbo Blue.”

“Second Turbo Blue,” the last man protested. “Rocky was senior Turbo Blue.”

“I only lasted for one mission, pretty sure I don’t count,” the Hispanic man said, grinning easily.

“ _Cam_?!” Mia cried out suddenly, darting into the group of Rangers to grab a man by the arm. He turned and nodded to her.

“Hello, Mia,” he said, pushing his glasses up and looking vaguely nervous.

“You’re a Power Ranger?” Mia demanded, looking furious. “Why didn’t you tell me you were a Power Ranger? I told you!”

The older man swallowed. “It never came-”

“ _Never came up_? Are you kidding me? Cam! It totally came up! I told you about my Samurai Ranger training! You just told me about the ninja and samurai training!”

“So you _didn’t_ tell her about Sensei being turned into a hamster?” a brunet man in yellow asked him. Cam cringed and glared at the unintroduced man.

“UNCLE KANOI WAS TURNED INTO A HAMSTER?! AND YOU _DIDN’T TELL ME_?!” she screamed, and then turned to the brunet man, back to smiling sweetly. “Hi, Dustin! How’s your class?”

“Doing well,” he said cheerfully. “They’re learning quickly this year.”

“That’s great!” she said cheerfully before turning a death glare on Cam.

Emily was feeling a bit overwhelmed.

“Let’s move this inside, shall we?” Without waiting for a response, Mrs. Oliver started gesturing for the huge crowd to go inside. Mentor Ji quickly opened the dojo doors and started guiding the crowd.

“I thought the Mighty Morphin team had a Blue,” Kevin said suddenly.

Mrs. Kwan-Scott’s mouth tightened. “We did. Billy Cranston. He’s been missing for sixteen years.”

* * *

“Don’t you have another Ranger?” Dr. Oliver asked after the introductions were finally finished and the Rangers were all enjoying a home-cooked meal that Mia had been too distracted by her indignant wrath to try to get involved in.

“Today’s one of Antonio’s visits with his teacher,” Jayden said. “He’s our Gold.”

“Teacher?” Mr. Lee Scott asked, frowning.

“Antonio wasn’t trained like us,” Kevin explained. “He teleports monthly to visit his other teacher.”

“In Ocean Bluff,” Mia said, turning away from her cousin, who was promptly hauled off by a blond man. “Hunter, I’m still talking to Cam.”

“He’s my boyfriend, I get priority.”

Mia turned back and glared. “I will chase you both down, Hunter Bradley.”

“Try me!” Hunter challenged. Cam slapped a hand against his forehead.

“I’ll go get Antonio!” Emily said, getting up before the chaos could start.

“May I go with you?” Mrs. Kwan-Scott asked. “I’d like to meet this teacher. We’re usually the ones to go to for Ranger skills, and I’ve never heard a thing about anyone named Antonio training.”

* * *

The teleporter had deposited them three blocks from where Antonio was, according to Emily’s phone and morpher locator. Mrs. Kwan-Scott was pretty nice, talking to Emily while they walked about her studies in psychology and her children and coaxing out some of the wacky stories the Samurai Rangers had in exchange for some of the original Rangers’ goofy stories.

Emily was flushed with laughter from one story- they got _banned_ from a _carnival_?- as the door to Antonio’s teacher’s house opened.

“Hi!” she said, smiling at the brunet man with glasses and blue jeans. “We’re looking for Antonio Garcia. Is he here?”

Her concern grew when he remained frozen in the doorway.

“Hey, are you feeling all right? You look pale.”

His mouth moved soundlessly.

“Sir? Are you okay?” Emily turned to Mrs. Kwan-Scott, hoping that she would help, and froze at the look of pure rage on her face. “Mrs. Kwan-Scott?”

“BILLY CRANSTON, Where the _hell_ have you been?!” Mrs. Kwan-Scott shrieked suddenly, making Emily jump. “Sixteen years! _Sixteen years_ , Billy! You told us you were moving to Aquitar! I only found out you didn’t when I wouldn’t stop calling after Zordon died! _WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN_?!”

“ _Mierda_!” Antonio yelped, suddenly appearing and pushing himself between Mrs. Kwan-Scott and the new guy.

“What’s going on?” Emily asked, completely lost.

“Do you remember the missing Blue Ranger I mentioned?” Mrs. Kwan-Scott asked, hand curled into claws.

“Yes,” Emily said, trying not to cringe back from her senior Yellow.

“This is him. Meet Billy Cranston, Mighty Morphin Blue, missing for sixteen years and _coming back now_.”

Antonio shoved the _Mighty Morphin Blue Ranger_ back, blocking the doorway when Mrs. Kwan-Scott tried to get in. “Run, Sensei! I’ll hold them off!”

“Oh _no_ you don’t-” Mrs. Kwan-Scott snarled, grabbing Antonio’s arm, but Emily could already hear Mr. Cranston running. “Billy Cranston, don’t you _dare_ run, you _know_ it’ll be worse when I finally get my hands on you!”

There was no response, only the sound of a teleporter whirring to life.

“Damn it!” the senior Yellow Ranger swore.

Emily flinched as Mrs. Kwan-Scott shook with rage before she contained herself and glared at Antonio.

“ _You_ , mister,” Mrs. Kwan-Scott snarled, “are coming with me.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are lots of untagged-but-mentioned pairings, just warning you now.

Jayden didn’t expect Antonio to be dragged in by the arm by a furious-looking Mrs. Kwan-Scott with Emily following nervously. Mia got up from tackling Crimson-not-Navy Mr. Bradley and her cousin and ran to pull Antonio away.

“Billy was in Ocean Bluff,” Mrs. Kwan-Scott said through her teeth. “ _This_ guy threw himself in my path to let him run.”

Dr. Oliver blinked. “When I hoped that we would stumble upon Billy today, I didn’t think it would actually happen.”

“He ran away from you?” Mr. Grayson asked, frowning.

“Carter, you’ve seen Trini when she’s angry,” Mr. Lee Scott said before turning back to his wife and jerking his head. “He’s still on-planet; there’s no way he has enough power in his teleporter to get anywhere we can’t immediately know he went. Hayley, try to lock onto his energy signature; look for recent teleportation trails and go from there. Rangers, split by color, track him down. Unless you don’t have many of your color here- all of you, band together. Samurai Rangers, talk to your Gold, find out what the hell is going on.”

“I’m still really confused,” Emily said hesitantly.

Mr. DeSantos shrugged. “You don’t run for sixteen years without a reason. If your Gold was with him, he knows why.”

“I can hear you, you know,” Antonio grumbled.

“Good,” Mr. Park said, glaring. “Tell your team what’s up.”

“Rocky, the Blues have claimed you as leader!” Mr. Scott snapped.

“I’m on it!” Mr. DeSantos took Mr. Park by the hand and went over to the teleporter.

The other Rangers teleported away, and all that was left were the Samurai Rangers and Ms. Ziktor tapping away at her computer.

* * *

The Blues landed in Reefside and the Lady Blues immediately teamed up.

“While I like the boys and adore Blake,” Tori said, “I am not teaming up with them for a search. They will try to one-up each other, and we will stay back here and cackle with laughter.”

“I can record it!” Maddie said cheerfully.

They went wandering around the city, looking around and waving their sensors.

“My spells aren’t picking up anything, and neither is this sensor,” Maddie said, wrinkling her nose.

“Pretty sure he’s not here,” Tori said. “Want to wait for the boys to figure that out?”

Maddie laughed.They wound up sitting on a park bench and watching the crowds while sipping blueberry smoothies, scanning every so often just in case Mr. Cranston came around, unlikely as that was. “So,” Tori said, “did you know that all of the Dino Thunder team- except Dr. Oliver- are all sleeping together?”

Maddie spluttered on her drink. “What?”

Tori grinned. “Apparently it’s off-and-on, started back when they were active. According to Kira, Ethan dared Conner to kiss a guy and the first guy Conner saw was Trent, and it went on from there.”

“How did this come up?” Maddie asked, wiping her face to make sure no smoothie splattered on her.

“Blake figured out that Kira and Trent had foursomes before. I asked her about it.”

Maddie choked on air, thankful that at least she wasn’t drinking this time.

“So how’s _your_ romantic life?” Tori asked, smiling.

Maddie laughed, thinking of her men. “Nick and Xander are amazing, thank you.”

Tori blinked. “I thought Xander was in a poly relationship with your sister and Chip.”

“He is.” Maddie shrugged. “He’s also my and Nick’s third. It works.”

Tori nodded sagely. “That’s the important bit.”

Something exploded behind them, and Maddie sighed. "What did the boys do now?

* * *

Billy opened his eyes to see a garish WELCOME TO NEWTECH CITY sign before him. Recalibrating the teleporter would not be amiss.

He quickly ducked into an alleyway, hoping to avoid any curious eyes watching him.

He required a plan of attack. Antonio had given himself up and it was Billy’s job as teacher to get him out of it, preferably before he was either forcibly interrogated or outed.

This was madness. Utter madness that he should have seen coming. The life of a Ranger was never sane, was it? Even years after you stopped, you were still involved intimately. He was a fool to think anything else.

* * *

Mariner Bay was severely lacking in Blue Rangers, missing or otherwise.

Trent and Merrick had taken the east, Daggeron had taken to the skies in his flying carpet, and Tyzonn had lost track of the other Rangers grouped with them. He and Ryan were searching the northwest and coming up with nothing.

“Is your team well?” Tyzonn asked, glancing through another alley.

Ryan nodded absently, scanning the intersection. “Joel’s still managed to keep Dr. Fairweather, to all of our shock, and Chad’s still dating Marina. I have to scare off half of Kelsey’s girlfriends.”

Tyzonn blinked. “I was informed that scaring off significant others was undesirable in a friend.”

Ryan shrugged. “Kelsey’s an adrenaline junkie, and her girlfriends tend to be trouble. I just scare off the ones that are too much.”

Tyzonn nods. “Don’t you have two other teammates?”

Ryan smiled. “Carter and Dana. The three of us are doing well.”

Tyzonn blinked. “Dana is your sister.”

“We share him.” Ryan lifted the scanner again. “I’m coming up blank. You?”

“I have yet to see any Blue Rangers,” Tyzonn admitted. “Shall we go to the rendezvous point?”

“We should,” Ryan said, nodding. “Ah, I forgot to ask- how is your team? And- what was her name…Vella?”

Tyzonn beamed. “Ronny has just won the Daytona 500, Rose has a job with an intergalactic police force, Will’s security business is doing extremely well, and Dax is extremely enthusiastic about the new film he’s doing stuntwork for. Mack, Vella, and I are working as liaisons for incoming aliens.”

“Recommending acclimatization tactics?” Ryan asked, a hint of an edge in his voice.

Tyzonn nodded. “Some, but only when Mack is out of the room.”

“They mean well,” Ryan, who was born human but raised demon, said, sighing.

“They simply cannot understand,” Tyzonn said, resigned to the truth of the world.

* * *

This was fucking _deliberate_.

Eric glared after Oliver as he and Scott went off to look through Silver Hills, only reluctantly turning to see Wes fidgeting next to him.

Six years, and Wes had barely changed. _Vanessa_ hadn’t done that much to him, evidently.

“We’d better get going,” Wes said, swallowing and turning away.

They walked awhile, looking through for suspicious characters in blue.

“How’s Taylor?” he asked quietly.

Eric shrugged. “Doing well. Made Lieutenant Colonel.”

Wes turned to look at him, genuinely grinning, and hell if that didn’t still take his breath away. “That’s great!”

Eric swallowed and the awkwardness fell again.

“I think this place is clear,” Wes said, moving forward.

“How is Sky?” Eric blurted out, and shit shit _shit_ , he hadn’t meant to ask. Not about Wes’s and… _Vanessa’s_ son.

Wes swallowed. “Doing pretty well, considering.”

“Considering what?” Eric’s voice was sharper than it had any right to be, he _knew_ that, but Wes was disturbed and he knew nothing of it-

Well. Story of the last six years. After _Vanessa_ got him in that bar, Eric and Taylor had been entirely out of the picture.

Wes fidgeted, turning his scanner and looking away from Eric. “Have you heard of Space Patrol Delta?”

Eric blinked. “Sure. Ranger wannabes. They have weaker morphers than the rest of us and they’re run by a bird. Why?”

“Vanessa works for them.” Wes took a deep breath before continuing. “While she was pregnant, there was an…accident in the lab. They were trying to make stronger morphers, and the Morphin Grid energy had…an effect on Sky. He can make psionic shields.”

Eric felt his hands clenching into fists. “She was working in a lab with Morphin energy when she was pregnant?”

“She was three months along, it was supposed to be perfectly safe, and it was her _job_ ,” Wes said, finally sounding irritated. “Can you not start on this again?”

“On what, the fact that your girlfriend’s an idiot?”

Wes rolled his eyes. “One, she’s not an idiot, she knows more about Ranger tech than I do, and two, she’s not my girlfriend. We slept together _once_ when we were _drunk_. We live together because there’s no reason to split Sky between two houses when we get along perfectly well.”

Eric scowled, looking at the scanner to avoid Wes’s eyes. “You followed her to Newtech City.”

“I wasn’t about to abandon Sky.” Wes sounded defensive. “Why are you so angry about all of this, anyway?”

Eric’s grip tightened on the scanner.

“You were both furious after I told you about Vanessa,” he continued. “You acted as if she deliberately seduced and used me when we were both _drunk_ and all she knew about me was my first name.”

“And yet that was enough for the two of you,” Eric bit out. “Are we finished with this area?”

“We’re not changing the subject,” Wes snapped, stepping  in front of Eric. “Why does Vanessa get you and Taylor so angry? You two couldn’t be in her company for five minutes without insulting her, and not even your usual gruff insults that don’t mean anything. What the hell was your problem?!”

“You were _ours_ ,” Eric snapped back without thinking, freezing when he realized what he just said. Wes’s eyes widened slightly, and when Eric tried to shove past him to _get the hell away_ , he grabbed Eric’s arm.

“You don’t get to hit me with that and walk away,” Wes said firmly.

Eric scowled. "With what? You were never interested in either of us."

"I was never interested in fucking up our working relationship or your relationship with her," Wes retorted. "I was plenty interested in you. _Both_ of you."

"There was more than a year between the dissolution of Time Force and us meeting Taylor."

"And the last time I pursued you, you vanished and I never heard from you again." Wes closed his eyes and took a deliberate deep breath. "Look. We've all been idiots about this, and we still need to look for Billy Cranston. Can we finish talking about this with Taylor involved?"

Eric nodded tightly, turning to his scanner. "It's still coming up blank."

* * *

Jayden turned to his old friend, who looked uncomfortable and withdrawn for the first time he remembered. “Antonio, what’s going on?”

“Sensei Cranston is the first Earthian Blue Ranger,” he said reluctantly. “He’s been avoiding the Rangers for years.”

“Why?” Mia asked, head cocked.

Antonio fidgeted. “It’s not my secret to tell.”

“Unless he killed someone or raped them, it can’t be _that_ big a deal,” Mike said.

Antonio’s jaw tightened. “It can, actually.”

Emily tilted her head. “Is he gay?”

Jayden stiffened as the blood drained from Antonio’s face. “H-how-”

“Mike’s right, if he is,” Mia said firmly, cutting Antonio off. “It’s really not a big deal, especially not to us. We’re _Samurai_ Rangers, Antonio- haven’t you looked up old Samurai traditions? Most of them were gay! Or at least bi.”

“Also, most of the Rangers fall _somewhere_ on the queer spectrum,” Emily chimed in.

Antonio blinked, looking stunned.

Mike snapped his fingers. “So _that’s_ why you’ve never actually made a move on Jayden, I _wondered_ -”

“ _Mike_!” Emily hissed.

Jayden froze. Did that mean that Antonio…

“What?” Mike asked defensively. “It’s not like we all haven’t read Jayden’s poetry about hi- _OW_!”

“ _Shut up_ , _Mike_.” Emily hissed, hand red from whacking Mike on the head.

Jayden flushed and glanced at Antonio, who looked completely caught off-guard.

“Neither of you actually had a clue, did you?” Mia asked, sounding as though she was holding back laughter.

“Even _Kevin_ knew!” Mike protested, trying to hide from Emily’s blows and only really managing to protect his face with his arms. “They’re both better with people than Kevin! I thought they were just waiting until Xandred was defeated! The poetry was really detailed for someone who never got past wishing! _Stop hitting me, Emily_!”

“ _Outing people is not okay_!” Emily shrieked.

“Okay! Okay! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”

Jayden looked at Antonio again just in time to see him side-glancing at Jayden. They both flushed and Jayden averted his eyes.

“I’ve got a lock!” Ms. Ziktor cried. “He’s in Newtech City. Who’s closest?”

“That’ll be us,” Mrs. Kwan-Scott said, sounding smug.

Mrs. Oliver laughed. “Oh, he’s _doomed_.”

Jayden looked at Mike, cringing from Emily’s fury, and had to agree.

* * *

Yellow could truly be a terrifying color. Particularly when you were surrounded by angry people who all chose to don various shades of it.

“Hey, dude!” one of the boys in yellow said cheerfully. “We need you to come with us.”

Was it possible to escape if he tackled one of the Yellow Rangers? No, they’d covered the angles and he would simply be tackled many times in return.

“What the _hell_ , Billy?” Aisha asked.

He was doomed.

“If you wanted to leave, _fine_ , but why pretend to move to Aquitar of all places? Why hide out for sixteen years and run at any trace of us? What the _hell_?”

“You said you weren’t upset about no longer being a Ranger,” Tanya said, sounding near tears. “You said you were our friend!”

“I discovered something fundamental about myself on Aquitar,” Billy blurted out. “I- it was something that is also extremely controversial to the point of hatred-”

Trini’s glare suddenly sharpened. “William David Cranston, _tell me_ you didn’t run away for _sixteen years_ because you were _afraid_ to tell us- _us_ , your _team_ , the people who _fought beside you_ for _years_ \- that you’re gay!”

Oh. Oh God. She knew.

Billy felt his jaw drop. “H-how…” he stammered, vocal control relinquished completely. “How did you-”

“ARE YOU _FUCKING_ KIDDING ME?!” Trini screamed. “WE WORKED WITH _ALIENS_! WE WORE _RAINBOW SPANDEX_! WE TOOK ORDERS FROM A _FLOATING HEAD_ _IN A_ _JAR_! DID YOU _HONESTLY_ THINK THAT WHAT _TURNS YOU ON_ WOULD BE AN ISSUE?!”

Billy gulped. “Statistically speaking-”

Trini seized his shoulders and began shaking him, screaming, “ _WE WERE_ ** _TEENAGE SUPERHEROES_** _FIGHTING_ ** _MONSTERS_** _THAT GREW TO THE SIZE OF_ ** _SKYSCRAPERS_** _IN_ ** _HIGH SCHOOL_**! **_YOU THOUGHT STATISTICS WOULD APPLY_**?!”

“Shut up for your own good, dude!” the cheerful boy from before shouted. “You’re just digging yourself in deeper!”

Billy attempted to nod in acquiescence, but the shaking impeded that impulse.

“That’s _it_ , I’m taking you to the others to properly chew you out!” Trini finally stopped shaking him and dragged him off by the ear.

* * *

The Samurai Rangers were quiet- the Red and Gold glancing at each other shyly, the Yellow looking murderous, the Green looking pitiful on the ground, the Blue looking awkward, and the Pink looking exasperated- when the other Rangers teleported back in.

Jason turned around to get a good look at his old Blue.

Billy had slimmed down, if that was even _possible_. He looked awkward and unhappy, though a good deal of that probably had to do with the fact that Trini was twisting his ear.

Jason loved his wife, he really did.

“He’s an idiot,” Trini said, almost calmly. “An absolute and utter moron.”

“What the hell, Billy?” Tommy demanded.

“This was totally not what I pictured for meeting you guys today,” Kimberly said, turning to the Samurai Pink, Cam’s cousin. “Want to reschedule?”

“We’ve been looking for fourteen years! Fourteen years, Billy!” Zack exclaimed, upset.

“I’ll set a day,” the active Ranger said, smiling.

“Good.” Kimberly turned to Billy then. “I want to ask what started all this, but I have a sneaking suspicion I already know.”

Jason turned to her incredulously. How could she-

“Yes, you do,” Trini said, now honestly calm.

Kimberly rolled her eyes. “Really, Billy?”

“What are you two talking about?!” Adam demanded.

Trini frowned. “Billy?”

The runaway Ranger clenched his fist three times before he swallowed, finally choking out,

“I’m gay.”

Jason paused in the sudden silence. Billy was gay? In hindsight, that made a lot of sense, actually- wait. _Billy thought they’d hate him for his sexuality_?!

Before Jason could splutter out a horrified statement at Billy’s lack of trust, Zack burst out laughing. They all turned to look at him.

“I knew it! _I knew it_!” Zack crowed, still laughing. “You _did_ have a crush on Curtis!”

The former Black Ranger’s line broke the tension and the entire Mighty Morphin team broke down laughing while Billy turned bright red.

 “Seriously, though,” Tommy said after the laughter died down. “You ran for _sixteen years_ to avoid coming out to us? _Seriously_?”

“You’re _far_ from the only gay Ranger,” Cassie said, smiling. “I’m bi. And married. This is my wife, Ko-lin, known better as the Phantom Ranger.”

The solemn woman next to the inactive Pink Ranger nodded to Billy, who looked shocked.

“We wear rainbow spandex, Billy,” Kimberly laughed. “That’s a glaring sign that we’re accepting.”

“It’s not spandex,” the Samurai Gold- Antonio?- said suddenly.

“What?” Kimberly asked.

He flushed some more. “We met Rangers from a parallel universe. Their doctor was pretty insistent that it wasn’t spandex.”

Their Green- Mike, that was his name- shuddered. “I remember her. What is it with tiny sweet girls and being _freaking intimidating_ when they’re angry?”

“We’re _awesome_ like that,” Emily- ha, he knew her name straightaway- said, smirking down at him. “And I’m still mad at you.”

“I’m not,” Antonio said. “I’m pretty sure he didn’t realize that I thought no one knew; he just thought it was something no one felt the need to talk about, like the fact that you and he flirt.”

“Still,” Emily said, shrugging. “Outing is bad.”

“This is not the first time Mike’s put his foot in it,” Antonio wheedled, and Jason saw the grin on the Samurai Red’s face. They _were_ completely obvious and Jason was shocked that no one had locked them in a closet yet- their Green seemed the type.

“True,” she said, nodding. “He needs to confirm that he knows, though. Mike! Tell me what outing is.”

“Outing is bad and should never ever be done by anyone,” the brown-skinned boy said instantly.

“We get it,” their Blue said, rolling his eyes before Cam’s cousin glared at him and he raised his hands in surrender.

“You sound like Shane,” Tori snickered. “He didn’t realize that Cam and Hunter were hiding the pictures from their day out because they wound up making out in the photo booth and dragged them out of Cam’s hands. Only time I’ve seen Dustin get really mad.”

“He almost dumped me for that,” Shane said, flinching.<

Billy watched them with wide eyes, even as Zack wrapped an arm around his shoulders and insisted that he tell Zack all about the stuff he’d done over the past sixteen years.

“This has been bothering me since Mrs. Kwan-Scott came back with Antonio,” the Samurai Red- Jayden, that was it- said, finally looking away from his Gold. “How did Mr. Grayson know Mrs. Kwan-Scott’s wrath? There were _years_ between your teams.”

Trini burst out laughing and Jason cringed.

“Still can’t believe you didn’t come on the mission,” Tommy said, glaring at Rocky.

“You guys were the ones who couldn’t find me!” Rocky protested. “I was moving! How was I supposed to know that you had a super-special mission to the moon? Don’t be jealous that I avoided the wrath of Trini!”

Antonio’s eyebrows went up. “This really _does_ sound interesting.”

“Sit down, kids,” Trini said, smirking. “You too, Billy. It’s time for a story about Reds being idiots and revenge.”

Everyone sat down around her, and Jason took a second to genuinely _look_ at them. Every Earthian Ranger (local to this time period) was finally in one place. Billy was _back_. It wasn’t perfect- they still had a _lot_ of crap to work through, particularly regarding trust- but he was with them. That was something.

It was a pretty good feeling. Even if one of the most embarrassing stories of his career was about to be told to every single Ranger.

Hey, at least he wouldn’t be the only one embarrassed.  



End file.
